Amisha Patel
Date of Birth: 9th June 1976
Sun Sign: Gemini
Address: C/o. Jai Electronic Ind. P. Ltd., 110/111, Parekh Market, Opera House, Mumbai - 400004
First Movie: Kaho Na Pyar Hai
An ace academician and granddaughter of noted lawyer Rajni Patel, Amisha Patel has always been an achiever. Be it being a school head girl or bagging a Gold Medal in Economics at Tufts' University, Boston. 
She has done it all. Even as a child she showed great grit and determination in following her dreams. In class six she told her mother about her dream to be the school head girl, but her mother never took it seriously. In class 12 she indeed became the head girl.
Self-confessedly, Ameesha Patel had to go through a "World War, before joining the industry". Her mother sits nearby and smiles indulgently, agreeing. Mommy didn't think this was quite the place for daughter dearest. However, her wish to enter films was well timed since Rakesh Roshan was launching his son, Hrithik, and was looking for a face opposite him. The Patels are Roshans' family friends. It was a chanced dinner get-together of both the families that led Amisha to bag the role of the heroine in Kaho Na Pyaar Hai. Amisha Patel grew up in South Mumbai and went abroad to study economics. When she returned she discovered that it was films where she wanted to be.
After a gold medal in Economics, she joined the finance department of the Bombay Stock Exchange, but it could not hold her for long. It took her a year before she could convince her parents to let her join Satyadev Dubey's theatre group. For a first film, Amisha did a good job. We are yet to see her on screen again. She also gave hits like Gadar and Humraaz . Interestingly in Humraaz , she is supposed to have replaced Priyanka Chopra. Her forth coming films include Vikram Bhatt's Elaan in which she is playing a journalist. Then there is Ketan Mehta's The Rising where she plays an innocent Bengali girl, Jwala who goes through bad times before she meets a Britisher. Amisha was in news for serving her father Amit Patel a legal notice charging him with "mismanaging" her accounts and assets amounting to Rs.120 million (Rs.12 crore).
Sunny Side Up
So what's it like working with the moody Sunny Deol?
"I was very apprehensive initially, but once we started working, I realised that he can be fun in his own way. On the sets he doesn't behave like a superstar. He doesn't make you feel like the senior that he is. And he's very, very helpful. He actually helped me out with a lot of my scenes", says Ameesha.
Work Is Worship
Coming from a life lived in the lap of luxury, it must have been something else for Ameesha to adjust to the weird ways of Bollywood.
"What disturbs me a lot is the serious unprofessionalism. The indiscipline towards work is bad. Work is very often treated like a picnic, whereas where I come from, work is worshipped. If I have to be on the set at nine in the morning I would prefer to be there at ten to nine. Then if the shoot is cancelled because somebody went for a haircut, it really bugs the hell out of me. But people can be nice too", she adds, hastily.
Super Stardom
Life must have taken a sudden about turn after the stupendous success of Kaho Na Pyaar Hai. And what's it like being a star?
"Oh! Fantastic! I might not have changed at all, but people around you start looking at you differently. The bad side is that people are ever ready to misconstrue events to make mischief just for the heck of it. So there is a lot more of gossip, which in my case, has all been short-lived".
"Another thing that has changed is that I can't get out of my house without causing a stir. I can't even step out to have sev puri without people disturbing me! Well, I guess you have to pay for this kind of fame", she says with a shrug.
Filmography
- Elaan ( Arjun Rampal, John Abraham, Rahul Khanna, Amisha Patel, Lara Dutta)
- Vaada ( Arjun Rampal, Amisha Patel, Zayed Khan)
- The Rising ( Aamir Khan, Toby Stephens, Amisha Patel)
- Parwana ( Ajay Devgan, Amisha Patel)
- Yeh Hai Jalwa ( Salman Khan, Amisha Patel, Rishi Kapoor)
- Humraaz ( Amisha Patel, Bobby Deol, Akshaye Khanna)
- Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage ( Hrithik Roshan, Amisha Patel)
- Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai ( Amisha Patel, Aftab Shivdasani)
- Kranti ( Bobby Deol, Amisha Patel, Vinod Khanna, Kabir Bedi)
- Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar ( Amisha Patel, Jimmy Shergill)
- Gadar ( Sunny Deol, Amisha Patel)
- Kaho Na Pyar Hai ( Hrithik Roshan, Amisha Patel)